Venus
Venus is an arid Earth sized planet in the Sol system and is the second closest planet to the Sun after Mercury. Plans to colonise the planet were first announced in February 1987 due to fears of an imminent food shortages caused by a population boom after the successful expedition of Nomad 1 to Mars. It is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days and it has the longest rotation period (243 days) of any planet in the Solar System and is the only terrestrial planet in the Sol System that rotates retrograde on it's axis. It is sometimes referred to as Earth's "sister planet" because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun, all of which remained relatively unchanged by the terraforming process. The fertile farmlands of Venus have attracted farmers and those seeking the simple agrarian lifestyle and natural beauty of The Emerald Star. Scientists and engineers also flock to the planet to research and maintain the vast "Rain Towers" which grant the planet it's fertility. Venus is a member planet of the UHF and was heavily involved in the Meridian War, being the battleground of a brutal offensive of Mercurian troops against the local UHF garrison. Physical Characteristics Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, meaning that it is a rocky body like Earth. It is similar to Earth in size and mass, and is often described as Earth's "sister" or "twin". The diameter of Venus is 12,092 km - only 650 km less than Earth's - and its mass is 81.5% of Earth's. Before Terraforming Prior to it's terraforming Venus was the hottest planet in the solar system reaching surface temperatures of up to 693 K (420 °C). It's surface was covered in vast, smooth volcanic planes and it's atmosphere was extremely dense, being made up of mostly carbon dioxide. The northern continent is called Ishtar, after the Babylonian goddess of love, and is about the size of Australia. Maxwell Montes, the highest mountain on Venus, lies on Ishtar. Its peak is 11 km above the Venusian average surface elevation. The southern continent is called Aphrodite, after the Greek goddess of love, and is the larger of the two highland regions at roughly the size of South America. A network of fractures and faults covers much of this area. The pressure at its surface was about 92 times that at Earth's - a pressure equivalent to that at a depth of nearly 1 kilometre under Earth's oceans. Above the CO2 layer were vast clouds of sulfuric acid which blocked visual observation of the surface until probes and other satellites were able to scan through the cloud layer. It has been theorised that billions of years ago Venus may have once resembled it's modern (terraformed) climate, with surface oceans and possibly life. A greenhouse effect may have been caused by the evaporation of that original water, which generated a critical level of greenhouse gases in its atmosphere, causing a rise in temperature. Terraforming Process After Terraforming Orbital Characteristics History Government and Politics Demographics Population Culture Industry and Trade Category:Planets Category:UHF